Today I was Inspired… May 24, 2008

  Today I watched my mother cross the finish line of her first (and probably last) marathon. She is 59. It is more than safe to say that at 32, she would have kicked my butt. I would still be crying at mile 2.

I will digress for one moment and let you in on a now famous story that will probably make it’s way into my eulogy somehow. In high school I went out for cross country. I am not sure why since I hated exercise of most any kind, but my parents were runners and somehow convinced me that this was the sport for me.  An athlete I am not. Anyway, the first meet comes around and suddenly despite lots of “practice” it occurs to me that I am going to have to actually run and that there are hills involved. And that the run is longer than from the couch to the fridge. So I do what any trained, superstar athlete would do when confronted with having to run a long distance (sadly, it was 2 miles). I wait until I go into a grove of trees and fake an fall which “injured” my knee. So clearly, marathons are probably not in my future.

My mom has been training for 4 months. Today, she wore a metal denoting she ran 26.2 miles. I could not be more proud of her. I found myself tearing up so many times today watching her run (yes Courtney, I cried). I am just amazed at her strength, courage, determination and perseverance to finish this race. The best part for me was watching Lily meet her in the last stretch so that they could cross the finish line together.

                                             

They actually held hands as they crossed the line, but I missed that in the picture. Of course, after they finished, I got asked the obvious question, “How come I don’t get a medal too?” I explained to Lily that you had to run in the race to get a medal. She looked at me like I was crazy and said, “But I did.” Oh sweetie, if only we got a medal for running the race for a few feet, we would need a bigger house to hold all of mommy’s cross country medals.

I am so proud of you mom!! Feel free to send your congrats in the comments. She is my most loyal reader.

Benefits of Unpopularity April 25, 2008

 You know how there are times in parenthood when your child prefers your hubby over you. You know how it kind of hurts a tiny bit that they never seem to want you and sometimes even scream when the hubby hands them to you and leaves for work every morning. You know how you remind said child that you once carried them for 9 months inside of you and have the stretch marks to prove it. You know how you might also remind them that you pushed them out of you with no drugs whatsoever which is quite painful actually and they should be forever grateful for all you do for them.

You know when that pays off? When that same kids begins screaming when you are in the basement watching TV and one parent has to go up 2 flights of stairs to comfort her repeatedly throughout the night and though you try once, she begins to scream “Daddy” and will only be comforted by him thereby leaving you off the hook for the rest of the night so you can blog and watch TV in peace.

Every Little Girl Needs a Prince (and maybe us big girls too) April 18, 2008

 Tonight was the daddy-daughter dance at Lily’s preschool. Initially we didn’t think the hubby was going to be able to make it so I never even brought it up. When it looked like it was going to happen, we told Lily that her daddy and her had a dance to go to and she got really excited. She insisted on wearing her Cinderella dress up clothes and her fancy “glass slipper” sandals. We knew the rest of us had to play the part.

The dance started at 6:30. My parents had been watching the girls since the hubby and I had an afternoon committment. So at 6:15 I came swooping into their house claiming to be her fairy Godmother who was here to help her get ready for the ball. I enlisted my mom as one of the woodland creatures for help. Somehow whenever pretending is involved, my mom always ends up playing the part of some animal. Anywho, we successfully got her hair done and talked her out of putting on jewelery, make up, perfume and God only knows what else.

Her “prince” came to pick her up with a bouquet of flowers. She was spinning around the room, curtseing and singing “Someday My Prince Will Come” when he arrived. I waved my magic wand and turned the Chevy Blazer into a coach and off they went. She was in heaven.

Of course the goal here is to keep her daddy her “prince” as long as possible. I love that when I ask her who she is going to marry, it is “daddy” everytime. I don’t even think it occurs to her to say anyone else. And since her daddy comes to the front door with flowers in his hands, someday when some punk sits in our driveway and honks, the goal is she will think he is a loser and wait for something better to come along. Obviously someday (far, far away) we want our girls to meet a wonderful man, but we hope to teach them to avoid as many heartaches as possible along the way, knowing full well there probably will be some.

Nothing can replace the look in my girl’s eyes when they see their daddy. Whenever something breaks around the house, I always declare, “Bring it to daddy, maybe he can fix it!” Yesterday, when Lily’s Little Mermaid barbie doll’s necklace broke (yes I am swimming in Disney Princess who ha) she tearfully went running to the hubbies side. “Can you fix it?” She said with big puddles in his eyes. Sure enough, despite some mildly super glued together fingers, it was fixed. She looked up at him with such devotion and said, “Daddy, your my hero.” His heart was bursting, well for a minute until she said, “Wait, what’s a hero?”

I’m pretty sure she has found her hero, her prince, and a whole lot more. And seeing him through her eyes, makes me remember why he is mine. He has almost my whole heart. But a sliver still belongs to my daddy who is still my hero and my prince too. I think we never outgrow that need to be “daddy’s girl.” I pray my girl’s never lose that precious look in their eyes.

All in all a pretty good read (if you take out that pig bladder part) April 14, 2008

 I am a bibliophile (actually click over to that Wikipedia link, there is some weird stuff over there). I have been one for as long as I can remember. I was a very early reader and spent what feels like entire summers at the local library. Judy Blume, Ramona, How to Eat Fried Worms, Charlotte’s Web, Diary of Anne Frank. I would enter every summer reading program. I would blaze through books at crazy speed. Even in the most intense parts of graduate school, I could be found ending out my night with a novel in my lap.

Somehow, when I became a mom, I seemed to stop reading. Unless you count parenting books and my wide variety of magazines. I still gave it some effort. Picking up a book right before I went to bed, but 3 sentences in…well, I would wake up the next morning with the open book on my chest. Last year, a friend of mine started a book club and I enthusiastically signed up. It was like being reunited with a long lost love. I devour each book and can’t wait until the next one is announced.

When we had kids, the hubby and I discussed how important it was to us to instill a love of reading in our children. It encourages such great imagination and creativity. I think that might be part of the reason we are such freaks about limiting TV. I would so much rather have them curl up with a book about Dora that zone out in front of her show (although Dora at least has them yelling Spanish and jumping around).

So we stock our house with board books. Head to the book section at garage sales. Don’t even get me started on those Scholastic order forms they send home from school. We read every night before bed. We have Lily read during her quiet time. We pack suitcases full of books for road trips. We strap our children down and prey their eyes open, forcing them to look at books (ok, we don’t go that crazy).

So it came as no surprise to me that Lily is an early reader. Actually I was a bit surprised cause she was quite early, but it seemed hard wired into her DNA. You know the great thing about you kid being able to read? You don’t always have to do it for them. They can entertain themselves with books for hours and even entertain their younger siblings. You want to know the downside? You can’t skip over parts in the book to get to the end quicker. No paraphrasing either. Just one less way I can lie to my children. And isn’t lying the basis of half the stuff I do?

So I decided it would be really cool to start reading chapter books with Lily. I toyed with the idea that she might be to young, but I told her when we started that if she thought the bookwas too long or too old for her we would save it for later. I figured a chapter a night before bed time would be a really cool bonding experience for a seasoned book worm and her protege. This was one of those few and precious times I was sooo right.

I picked the Little House on the Prarie books cause I remember them with such fondness as a kid. I also stumbled on some old episodes on the Hallmark channel one day and Lily seemed very into it. Very confused, but very into it. So tonight, we began chapter one.

Here’s what I forgot. There is a lot of animal killing going on out in the wilderness. Lily finally looked up at me and said, “Aren’t they being kind of mean to all the animals?” I explained to her that, as we had talked about before, a lot of our food comes from animals. I think that fact was really sinking in and for a moment I feared I had created a vegetarian. But then I think the thought of yummy bacon got the best of her and we read on. She was completely amazed by people living in a one room house, killing and growing their own food, and not having a refrigerator. Think about that through a 4 year old’s eyes in 2008. I think I rocked her world. That my friends is the power of books.

Remember that Mary and Laura have one rag doll that belongs to Mary. Laura has a corncob that she pretends is a doll. At the end of the chapter Lily looked at me and said, “I think I want to be Laura…no wait Mary. Is that the one with the real doll, or the corncob? Cause I don’t want to be the one with the corncob doll.” Interesting point. I am so glad when discussing the toys played with in the book, we focused on the dolls and not the pig bladder that Pa blows up (I don’t even want to think about how) that they bat  around like a ball. Thankfully I don’t think Lily quite grasped the concept of a blown up pig bladder being batted around. Maybe that’s why these books are best read by the young. I am not sure I will ever think of pigs the same way. Wait…mmm, bacon. Never mind.

On The Road Again April 7, 2008

 It is spring break here in Michigan and for us that means…ROAD TRIP. We are heading up into Canada to Niagara Falls with a couple of water park stops along the way. Yes we are driving the whole way with the kids. You may call us crazy, but I prefer adventurous. My kids are actually very accustomed to car travel so we hope for the best. There may possibly be some bribing with food and an occasional video. But I also like to kick it old school with the license plate and alphabet game. Also some good old fashion sing a longs thrown in for good measure.

So far, it hasn’t been too bad. Today we left at bedtime hoping the girls would fall asleep in the car. Lily did great, Hannah…not so much. She wasn’t being bad, just refusing to sleep until about 2 hours after her normal bed time. I am sure she will just sleep in tomorrow morning. Ahem. Anyway, we are getting up in the morning and heading into Canada and over to Niagara to indoor water park #1.

I will keep you posted…you should keep us in your prayers….for safety and sanity….and sleep.

Second Verse Same as the First March 24, 2008

 Hannah is sick again. She started acting weird yesterday afternoon and soon she was sporting flushed cheeks and a warm forehead. Then while the hubby and I were catching up on a DVR’d Survivor, we started to hear odd noises through the monitor (how did people parent before these things were invented?). By the time midnight rolled around her fever was 102 and she threw up. We changed sheets and clothes, gave her some Motrin and hoped for the best. Needless to say, it was a really long night.

And then today…was a really long day. There is something really sweet about having a sick kid. They get really cuddly and curl up with you on the couch and fall asleep on your chest. Then there is the not so sweet. The whining, the clinging, did I mention the whining. That bad thing about having a sick kid (besides the constant fear that you will catch whatever they have) is that your other kid gets totally neglected.

Lily spent the day watching too much TV, begging mommy to please play with her and trying to stay out my “way too short on sleep” path. At the end of the day, when the hubby got home to give me some relief, I pulled Lily over and snuggled her a bit (probably infecting her in the process).

“Mommy is really sorry I didn’t get to pay you much attention today.”

“That’s OK Mommy, I paid attention to myself.”

It’s Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious March 17, 2008

  I think I have mentioned before that I am pretty selective about letting my kids watch TV or movies. Actually outside of Veggie Tales, Lily hasn’t really watched any movies. To substitute we watch clips for various movies on You Tube as I mentioned in a previous Works For Me Wednesday. One of Lily’s favorites to watch are clips from Mary Poppins. So last week I rented the movie from our local library (free rentals!!). All week I built up the chance to watch it on the weekend. I will not lie, it was thrown out as a bribe for good behavior more than once.

So we got home from Chicago on Sunday afternoon and settled in for a movie. A few minutes in, the hubby was snoring, but Lily was mesmerized. Every few minutes she would say, “How does she do that?” I would tell her it’s magic. Her eyes would get big and she would say “I wish I could do that.” She loved the movie and immediately wanted to watch it again as soon as it was over. And that is one long kiddie movie. At the end, she turned to me and said “Mama, that was greater than I even thought it was going to be” as she snuggled up next to me. These are the moments…

I thought the point was to get CLEAN… February 2, 2008

 Bathtime is a highlight around here. Not for us parents so much, but for the kiddos. If Hannah even hears the word bath she is trying to take off her clothes as quickly as possible while crawling up the stairs towards the tub. Her favorite cupboard in my bathroom contains the bath toys which she gleefully empties into the tub with wild abandon. She lives for bath night.

Lily loves it too, although she is starting to also like the shower. Still, she usually takes baths because then I can take care of her and Hannah at once. They have a lot of fun splashing around and squirting each other with their bath toys. Lily puts a washcloth on her feet and pretends to be a mermaid. Hannah likes to stick her face in the water and blow bubbles. I use the time to clean my sink. A good time is had by all and it’s free entertainment for 20 minutes.

Unless something goes wrong. Horribly, horribly wrong. The other night, the bathroom was moderately clean so instead of cleaning while the kids were bathing I sat on the floor in the hallway outside the bedroom and emailed. Suddenly I hear shrieking and not the “this bath is so much fun I can hardly stand it” kind. Lily starts screaming “poop, poop!!!” and scrambling to get out of the tub. Hannah continues to splash away oblivious to the mayhem she has just caused.

I wish I could tell you that this was like Caddyshack where it looked like there was a Baby Ruth in the pool. But we weren’t so blessed as to have a compact entity. So I fished out the kids and the hubby took one for the team and began using the bath toy fishing net to solve our problem. That wasn’t working so he used my brand new hair trap to corral the excrement and fished out all the bath toys (all of which got another bath in some warm water and bleach). Of course this happened to be one of those times where Hannah had emptied every bath toy east of the Mississippi into the tub. Fun times.

Thankfully, we have another shower just down the hall so I threw the girls in there and washed the poop off of them. What is it about motherhood that makes you say phrases like “washed the poop off them?” By this time, Lily has managed to find the humor in the situation and Hannah went on her little way still oblivious to her faux pas. Neither seems to be traumatized as they have bathed together since then. I wish I could say the same for their parents. I can say with complete and total conviction that I will not be partaking in anymore bathing extravaganzas in my attempt to be “that mom.” And I think the hubby might just make sure he has work dinners on bath night. Or next time you see them, our kids might just be really, really dirty.

Merry Christmas from the Caribbean December 24, 2007

 I am blogging from the warm and sunny Cayman Islands. It is very, very difficult to even remember that it is in fact Christmas when you are staring at palm trees. Then I pulled up the news about the weather back in Michigan and I remembered. So I won’t be bloggin’ much for a little while which is a bummer cause the trip down alone provided  weeks worth of bloggin’ material. That being said, our condo has high speed internet so who am I kidding, I’ll probably pop back soon.

In the meantime, wherever you are and whatever that weather, I pray you and your family have a wonderful and safe Christmas. I also pray you can spend some time remembering the “Reason For The Season.” Isn’t it amazing that God came to Earth as a helpless little baby? Isn’t it even more amazing that Mary rode all that way on a donkey while days away from giving birth? Makes you understand why Catholics love her so. Just a thought…

Weighing in 5 Pounds heavier November 23, 2007

 We had a lovely and very filling Thanksgiving. I hosted the family at my house which wasn’t bad at all since I had major help cleaning and cooking. I also have a mother-in-law who insisted on washing everything by hand after dinner. I think she even washed things we didn’t use considering how many clean dishes are piled up around my kitchen. Is it possible they were breeding through the night? Actually, breed away, as long as you are breeding clean dishes. Cause frankly, they are usually breeding the other kind.

We had a delicious turkey cooked on the grill. In true Thanksgiving fashion it took an hour longer than it should have, but we simply began munching on some fruit, deviled eggs and cookies to keep us occupied while waiting. The highlight of dinner for me was some sweet potatoes I whipped up involving 7 egg yolks and 3 cups of whole milk. So it was basically a healthy, low fat, reduced calorie kind of dish. I tried a new recipe that involved a blow torch which has inspired a new Thanksgiving motto: “It ain’t Thanksgiving unless there is a blow torch involved.” I think I will make some t-shirts up to commemorate.

The night ended with a rousing game of Michigan Rummy which I can humbly tell you I kicked some booty in. Today will be a day of sitting in elastic pants shopping on Amazon. I have found their prices to be comparable to most of the Black Friday sales going on. To all you suckers who woke up at 4 am to elbow your way through a bunch of crazy people to buy a $30 digital camera, I hope you found what you were looking for with minimal injuries. I was with you in spirit (not really, I was sleeping).